JAPAN: Quentin Tarantino talks about his role in the upcoming Japanese "sukiyaki western" remake of the film "Django"

Record ID: 176847

  • Title: JAPAN: Quentin Tarantino talks about his role in the upcoming Japanese "sukiyaki western" remake of the film "Django"
  • Date: 14th June 2007
  • Summary: TOKYO, JAPAN (JUNE 11, 2007) (REUTERS) JAPANESE DIRECTOR TAKASHI MIIKE ARRIVING THROUGH SALOON DOORS QUENTIN TARANTINO ARRIVING THROUGH DOORS
  • Embargoed: 29th June 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Japan
  • Country: Japan
  • Reuters ID: LVA4A6X4TAACX2KBDM0QK74YEYEC
  • Story Text: American film director, actor and Academy Award-winning screenwriter Quentin Tarantino has never kept his love for Japanese films a secret.
    But he has now gone a step further by allowing himself to be cast in a role in a Japanese motion picture that just wrapped up its filming in Japan.
    "I play Piringo, who is sort of the "Eastwood-esque" character of the opening of the movie. It kind of sets the tone for the sukiyaki-slash-macaroni Western vibe of the film. And then, later in the film, I later show up again, but deeper into the film, as an old man who's paralysed and he's in a wheelchair. Then I tell the story of Bloody Betty, and our son together, Akira," Tarantino told a packed press conference which was held in Tokyo to introduce Japanese director Takashi Miike's remake of the spaghetti-western classic "Django".
    "I've always loved Japanese films so much, and so it's always been a desire of mine to actually work in a Japanese movie for the Japanese film industry -- to see what it's like, and the differences, because I always just embrace stuff like that," he added.
    Miike's "Sukiyaki Western Django" displays a very Japanese pop-culture take on both the Italian spaghetti western style of movie and a tale from Japan's 11th century.
    The film sees competing warlords mix swords and machine-guns. It also boasts a fully Japanese cast, that's excluding Tarantino's role of course. All the lines are spoken in English.
    For Japanese actress Kaori Momoi, best known for her role in "Memoirs of a Geisha", this was a moment she hoped would lead Japanese actors and actresses on to the world stage.
    "I don't want to lose to "Memoirs of a Geisha". It has often been asked why Chinese actresses can do it and not Japanese actresses. So if we all fight this together, I will not be alone any more and why can't we go out on to the world stage? And it's also easier for us if we go out from here than try to make it in an overseas film," she added.
    Tarantino says this latest venture might even inspire him to make a companion piece to the Japanese film.
    "I had such a good time. And I was
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